Having a baby is hard work and any woman who has gone through this life changing experience will agree with this. Giving birth is no joke.

Plus, the 'too posh to push trend' has been fuelled by celebs like Victoria Beckham, who opted for four selective C-sections.

'Over the past few years, the process of labour has been so badly hyped up that women today feel scared to give birth naturally. It's no wonder, that an Epidural (a spinal shot of painkillers) has become a must nowadays,' says celebrity Lamaze consultant Dr Rita Shah.

While it's true that giving birth is tough, but the flip side is getting through labour pain isn't impossible.

Today there are more ways than ever before to manage labour pain and thankfully there are still a few people who are willing to explore these options. The Duchess of Cambridge is one of them.

She is reportedly learning 'hypnobirth'- a selfhypnosis technique that mums-to-be use in order to mentally programme themselves to relax during childbirth.

Kate is due anytime now and she wants to have a normal delivery minus painkillers. For this, she has apparently been reading up on the subject and listening to hypnobirthing CDs.

All in the mindDuring pregnancy, women are generally bombarded with too many negative stories about childbirth that they start dreading the experience.

'Women who are pregnant for the first time or those that have previously experienced a miscarriage are more vulnerable to severe anxiety and fear while going through labour. This anxiety doesn't let their mind and body relax and thus accelerates the feelings of fear and pain.

'If a woman continues to be over anxious during her pregnancy, it can also adversely affect the fetus and might complicate the process of childbirth,' explains Dr Pulkit Sharma, consultant psychologist, VIMHANS, Delhi.

In the 1950's obstetrician Grantly Dick Read put together the fear-tension-pain model which explained that if a woman is anxious in labour, it automatically translates into tension and then pain.The inability to manage that pain in labour is what leads to the failure-to-progress which then ends up in a whole cascade of interventions in labour.Agrees child birth educator and COO of Mamma Mia, Fortis Healthcare, Gurgaon, Anika Parashar Puri, 'Unless your body is not relaxed during labour, it will not release 'oxcytocin' - a pain relieving hormone that stimulates the uterus. Without oxytocin you don't get your contractions and then one has to be given pitocin injections to induce labour.'Wonders of water birth: Baywatch star Pamela Anderson gave birth to both of her sons at home in a birthing pool with the aid of a midwifeIt's possibleThe best way to deal with the pain and fear associated with childbirth is to prepare one's body and mind for the process.

'A woman's body is designed to give birth but the mind holds her back. With the help of various 'alternative birthing methods' expectant mums can realise their level of power and uncover their potential to deal with labour,' declares Puri.

Along with natural birth, one can also avoid the use of painkillers and other medicines used for inducing labour. Nowadays, many 'anti-natal' classes are offered by various hospitals and wellness centres to help expectant mums prepare.

'It's a matter of learning the right tools, understanding the process of childbirth, becoming aware and then practising together with your support, whether it's your partner, family or even a Doula so that everyone is on the same page,' states Puri.

Craig A. Jackson, Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at Birmingham City University, asks if there is any scope for using clinical hypnosis in the modern workplace.

“For the past hundred years there has been an abundance of evidence that psychological and physiological changes could be produced by hypnotism which were worth study on their own account, and also that such changes might be of great service in the treatment of patients.” British Medical Journal, 23 April 1955Hypnotherapy, and the ability to induce a relaxed and suggestible state, leaving the subject open to accepting and trying new attitudes and adopting new behaviours, is a phenomenon that has been written about since the Victorian era. Despite a historical and continuous interest in the area that captures the imagination of children and adults alike, it is probably the contemporary psychological practice with the longest record of being misunderstood. Despite the logic behind it and the evidence associated with its efficacy in a variety of conditions, it is too readily ignored by lay people. Unfortunately, having been hijacked by stage-hypnotists and illusionists, many people do not bother to explore the wide body of evidence that suggests hypnotherapy can be a useful tool in behavioural change.There have been many reviews of the scientific literature over the last several decades to try and establish if hypnosis has a useful role to play in the management of common and rare conditions. Such reviews have usually been undertaken by independent review panels and have often adopted strict criteria in order to provide strong evidence, should it be found, about the usefulness of hypnotherapy. The British Medical Association (BMA) commissioned a review in 1892 to evaluate the effects of hypnotherapy. The review concluded that hypnotic states could genuinely exist, and hypnotherapy was frequently effective in remedying pain, sleep disorders, anxiety and functional disorders. A two-year review was again undertaken by the BMA in the mid-1950s entitled Medical Use of Hypnotism (1955), which concluded that hypnotism was of value and could be the treatment of choice in psychosomatic conditions, intrusive thoughts and neuroses. Further uses were suggested for analgesia in dental treatment and childbirth. These findings were repeated by a review by the American Medical Association less than five years later, and again by the US National Institute for Health in 1995, which expanded the list of conditions that could be aided by hypnosis to include irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain associated with cancers, tension headaches and mandibular disorders. A clinical review by Vickers & Zollman (1999) also found the side effects of chemotherapy, panic disorders, primary insomnia, phobias and asthma could be aided. They found no evidence to support some claims that hypnotherapy could extend life expectancy. However, subsequent Cochrane reviews found no evidence to support claims that hypnotherapy can assist in tobacco cessation or in managing irritable bowel syndrome.This article does not attempt to provide any argument about the evidence of the effectiveness of, or even the validity of, hypnotherapy as an approach to be used within healthcare or medicine. As a chartered psychologist who does not use hypnotherapy in any form of clinical or consultation work, I feel suitably independent from it, and therefore truly disinterested in the practice of hypnotherapy. What is of interest to me is that modern workplaces could be missing some helpful tools in the effort to convert and influence individuals and organisations towards safety-conscious working and healthy living. In the last decade we have seen the workplace become much more people and psychology-focused than they have ever been before.It might be no coincidence that one of the reasons hypnotherapy never took off in mainstream healthcare, and has been associated with the alternative movement, crystals and homeopathy, is that the unfashionable and much-maligned Sigmund Freud (and Joseph Breuer) was a proponent of it when publishing Studies in Hysteria in 1895. The pairing of hypnotherapy with the unfair post-modern criticism Freud received may have consigned it to an early discontinuation. In essence, Freud’s suggested use of hypnotherapy makes sense: when we have psychological or behavioural problems, they are often because of unresolved conflicts within us of which we are unaware. As our true thoughts and desires are so dark and savage, according to Freud, our subconscious buries such conflicts and prevents us from assessing them or even being aware of them by defence mechanisms, in order to protect our own sanity. The only way around such defence mechanisms was to try and sneak around the consciousness, using word association, drugs, the analysis of dreams, or even subconscious notions of shape preference to allow us to get access to the true unguarded issues at the core of ourselves. Another way of doing this in Freudian therapy was through the use of placing an individual in a hypnotic state — docile and suggestible, but still able to communicate, yet without the defence mechanisms becoming involved. Ironically, the psychosocial conditions that Freud and colleagues often encountered at the time, under the label of “hysteria”, map neatly onto modern day complaints seen quite commonly in workplaces — anxiety, depression, sleep problems, habituation of negative thinking and substance misuse.Clinical hypnosis does not involve placing individuals in vulnerable positions of unconsciousness or zombie-like states. Some individuals may feel so relaxed and at ease that they do fall into a brief sleep but are easily awoken by the therapist without any harm or danger to either party. A hypnotic state can occur normally in most people when the right environmental and psychological settings are provided, and with a skilled and experienced hypnotherapist it is possible to use this state to make both profound and prolonged changes to the way people think about things, their feelings and emotional responses to other situations, and ultimately their behaviours and actions. Old ways of “thinking and doing” can be challenged without resistance. This is a summary of the form of hypnosis provided by practitioners within the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (2013). Hypnosis is a consultative process, with the practitioner assessing the client thoroughly in order to determine the nature of any problems, just as would be done with any other form of talking therapy, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Clinical hypnotherapists will also prepare their clients by explaining to them how the hypnosis will work and what the clients can expect to feel like. The methods used are often individualised and based on the client’s levels of suggestibility and emotional state, and, where appropriate, therapists will train clients in self-hypnosis techniques.The British Psychological Society (BPS) working party produced The Nature of Hypnosis in 2001 and concluded that, “Hypnosis is a valid subject for scientific study…and a proven therapeutic medium.” The report strongly concluded that, “Enough studies have now accumulated to suggest that the inclusion of hypnotic procedures may be beneficial in the management and treatment of a wide range of conditions and problems encountered in the practice of medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy.” Areas of success for hypnotherapy included acute and chronic pain management and distress reduction in dental practices and childbirth; adjunct therapy in weight loss programmes; anxiety, tension and stress; insomnia and sleep disorders; and a range of psychosomatic conditions such as headaches, asthma, gastrointestinal problems and dermatological conditions.The case of Esther shows how hypnotherapy can conveniently be accessed by working people. Esther was a 27-year-old administrative worker within a large insurance company. She was occasionally required to travel to other sites as part of her job. Esther had developed some difficulties in her early twenties concerning phobias and worries when near large man-made structures such as bridges, towers or pylons. She would feel terrified at the thought of driving towards or nearby such features in the landscape. This was becoming a problem at work as Esther would sometimes have to take long detours to avoid such features on her journeys. She was also struggling to concentrate behind the wheel on journeys when she did not know the local geography, as she was constantly fearful that large objects would surprise her. On one occasion she reversed back along the hard shoulder of a motorway to exit on a previous slip-road, rather than go forward towards a tower in the near-distance. There were obvious safety implications for her in these situations. Her company’s Employee Assistance Programme was able to provide Esther with access to a clinical hypnotherapist once a week over four weeks. The therapist was able to teach Esther self-relaxation techniques that she could practice as homework between hypnotherapy sessions. After assessing her in the first session and establishing her thoughts about the structures, the therapist was confident that a hypnotherapeutic approach would be suitable. In the second session, Esther was induced into a deeply relaxed state whereby the therapist was able to help her ascribe silly names and foolish characteristics to certain towers and landmarks from around the world. This allowed her to laugh at such constructions and find amusement in them, which prohibited her from feeling fearful of them at the same time. In the third session, Esther was induced into a relaxed state for the second time, and then ascribed comedy characteristics to the bridges and towers she would commonly encounter in her own routine. She was taught to view large objects in this way once she felt herself becoming fearful of any, which would help her push such fears from her mind by replacing them with absurdity. The fourth and final session was a refresher session, where the therapist checked that such new cognitions and behaviours were working well for Esther.Hypnotherapy has been scrutinised by medical and healthcare experts for decades and seems to show that improvements in some conditions are more likely than not, and are usually higher than the effects of placebo. The level of scrutiny and review has justifiably been high, which has resulted in positive reviews about the efficacy of this clinical approach. In recent years, the quality of research involving hypnotherapy has been even higher, often using nothing less than randomised trials and quantifiable outcome measures, and this has not resulted in increased publications stating that hypnotherapy should not have a role. In fact it has been quite the opposite, in high profile journals such as The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Two more factors would suggest that the use of hypnotherapy in workplaces is suitable. First, the range of conditions that have shown improvement when subjected to hypnotherapy is broad, and particularly seems to involve modern non-specific multiform somatic symptoms of the kind often encountered in workplace ill health. Second, the bio-psychosocial pathway evident in the relationship between job-dissatisfaction, distress, personality and subsequent ill health could be directly accessed in hypnotherapy, and attempts to instigate a sense of positivity and adaptive coping skills could be achieved, thereby alleviating symptoms and ill health at the “psychological source” before they become dominant.

If you would like to find more about how Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic can help you for problems such as anxiety, confidence, low self esteem, hypnobirth, gastric band hypnosis, sports performance hypnosis, weight loss hypnosis, sexual problems contact Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic.

A woman claims that hypnosis revealed she shot dead a farmer who she believes raped her - nearly 40 years ago.

Janet Holt, 64, has been questioned by police over her claim that she had buried the memories of the killing until she went for therapy decades later.

Her business partner Fred Handford, then 56, vanished in 1976. Despite a huge police search he was never found.

For more than 30 years Miss Holt, who worked with him at Ball Beard farm in Buxton, Derbyshire, had no clue what happened to him.But she had repeated unexplained nightmares about Mr Handford and underwent therapy to see if there was something locked deep in her mind.Miss Holt said the recollection was terrifyingly clear - she shot Fred after he twice raped her, then put his body in a wheelbarrow and buried him on their farm.Police arrested and interviewed her in 2011 after she went to officers and told them where she believed she buried the body.

But after extensive searches of the 50-acre farm, he was never found and she was released.

Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic would like to thank all the students from Birmingham City University who attended our workshop on Wednesday 5 June 2013.The workshop was on managing stress & anxiety and becoming more confident.

The students were suffering with different problems such as exam anxiety, presentation anxiety and placement anxiety but they all had one thing in common, they were all imagining themselves feeling scared and failing.Therefore we taught the students how they understand the world and how the internal pictures, sounds and physiology affects their state which consequently affects their behaviour We then explained to them how they can alter the internal images, sounds so they can alter their state.

The students were very happy with all the workshop and found everything very useful.

We are looking forward to running some more workshops with the Birmingham City University in the new academic year.

If you would like to know more contact Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic by email or by phone.

Apparently the bariatric surgeons not convinced weight loss through hypnosis will last. Do you think they will support something that will give them less work? Also even if it doesn't last forever they are achieving what they want which is weight loss and helps them become healthier. It is a no brainier which one we would chose that limits the risk to our health. Finally does bariatric surgery always work.. not really.

From the article:From cutting meals to going under the knife, there are lots of ways to lose weight. Some work, some don't, but we found a couple who says they fooled their brains into thinking they had bariatric surgery. So is it hype or can it really help? Every year 200-thousand Americans are stapling, banding, even removing part of their stomachs to beat the bulge. But Roy and Sue May spent about twelve-hundred dollars a piece on something else they believe is just as effective…hypnosis.

They were hypnotized into thinking they had gastric bypass surgery. "So I'm actually guiding them through the experience as if it were actually happening…. going to a hospital, meeting the nurse, having the anesthesia," said the hypnotist. Combined the two have lost 160 pounds. They say it’s changed their lives completely. But Bariatric Surgeon, Ernest Rehnke isn't buying it. The doctor says only surgery can physically shrink the stomach, reducing the amount of food that can be eaten. It works for 80-percent of his patients. He doesn't believe hypnosis has that kind of power. "It's not going to work long term, you know, for them. They are going to end up reverting, you know, back to their habits of eating a little bit more, a little bit more," said Dr. Rehnke. It seems to be helping Roy and Sue stay on course. They've kept the weight off for more than a year. But the question remains, how long will the hypno-surgery's effects really last? There are no studies on the effectiveness of Greenberg's hypno-surgery, only her figures and patient testimonies. But there is a new report about bariatric surgery. While it can help reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, research found it does not cut long-term healthcare costs. The six year study found patients spent more money on hospital stays due to complications than they did on obesity related illnesses.

Firefighters in eastern France have turned to an unconventional method to soothe accident victims, launching a pilot project to try hypnosis to ease the distress of drivers trapped in their cars, among other high-stress emergency scenarios.At their centre in Haguenau, eastern France, about 120 firefighters are being trained in more than just first aid and emergency response techniques.As part of a pilot project in the Bas-Rhin department, the emergency services personnel are learning, of all things, hypnosis.”It's verbal and breathing techniques and gestures that all aim to lower anxiety and lessen pain, but of course they won't replace classic emergency care,” Bas-Rhin firefighters' head nurse Cécile Colas-Nguyen told regional daily l'Est Republicain.

The push to expand the firefighters repertoire of stress-fighting skills is unique in France, and will be subjected to a review when training has concluded. Administrators at Haguenau believe the techniques can be useful when the emergency services are working, for example, to free a person who is lodged in their vehicle following a traffic accident or helping someone trapped under rubble.Anyone suffering an asthma or convulsive attack could also benefit from the iniative.

The emergency services workers are being trained to keep an eye on the victims' breathing while they themselves have been instructed to keep calm and use soothing language.They must also avoid using negative words when speaking.

”While my colleagues are taking care of your safety, you will focus your mind on being out on the ski slopes, while your body stays here,” one young firefighter told a woman taking part in an exercise where she pretended to be in a car accident at the centre in Haguenau.The woman had previously told him that she enjoyed winter sports.

Haguenau emergency services chief David Ernenwein told l'Est Republicain that he was convinced the methods were beneficial.

”We had already noticed that things went better if we held the person's hand, even though we didn't categorize it as 'hypnosis',” he said.

”This technique will give us the key to making victims suffer less.”

The centre's medical head, Yves Durrman, said he would like to see the iniative rolled out nationally.An interior minister official,meanwhile, said that it remained to be seen if the emergency services workers could apply the new techniques in a real distress situation, under considerable pressure.

”We have known for a long time that (hypnosis) works, that it is not a placebo,” Dr. Stéphane Donnadieux, who consults the civil security department, told the newspaper.

”But it requires that people be well trained. The emergency services personnel can only receive limited training, so we're talking about using certain hypnotic techniques rather than hypnosis,” he added.(news@thelocal.fr)

According to Hollywood Life, Kardashian, 32, is using hypnotherapy to help deal with her anxiety. Her baby bump has a due date in July with boyfriend Kanye West. "Kim has been seeing a hypnotherapist to help her deal with her anxiety about giving birth. She got the idea from Kate Middleton who had been working with a hypnotherapist that helped her with morning sickness," a source told HL. "She's nervous and is getting more anxious about the big day. Her family is supporting her and thinks it's a good idea," explained the insider. "Plus Kim really admires Kate and hopes to meet her one day and have a playdate." Maybe Kardashian and the 31-year-old Duchess of Cambridge will have the same gender babies in July. It could be two boys or two girls! Sister Khloe Kardashian revealed on the "Today" show that fans will know if the reality star is having a girl or a boy on "Keeping Up With the Kardashains" June 2 season premiere. "I will say this Sunday we are going to reveal it," Khloe said. "We find out the sex of the baby on the show." New details emerged on where and how Kardashian and West, 35, are going to welcome their new baby.Hollywood Life reported that the couple will be paying over $3,000 a day on a deluxe birthing suite as Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It includes a full-size bathtub, a separate sitting room, and a flat-screen TV. She is reportedly staying at least three days after all, so it makes sense (we guess). "That's going to be a big day for them and they want it to be extra special and perfect," a source said. "They want everything to go on without a hitch! It's their first child together, and it's an intense time for Kim especially, but Kanye is nervous too. Even though he's excited for the baby, it hurts him to see Kim in all types of pain. He just wants everything to go smoothly for her." The source added that the extravagant suite is really for "privacy and security" because West wants to make sure the moment stays super special. "He's about to have his first baby with Kim, and he wants to savor that moment and doesn't want anything or anyone to mess it up!" the source said.

Find out more how you can use hypnosis and hypnotherapy to give birth, contact Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic.

Hypnosis, long the focus of sceptics' doubts, really works, scientists say. Dr David Spiegel, chair of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford University, California, told the conference that monitoring its effects inside the brain had proved it could change perceptions. Hypnotised volunteers were asked to look at a black and white grid which they were told was filled with colour. Brain scans that examined blood flow in the part of the brain involved in colour recognition showed changes identical to those to be expected had the volunteers really been looking at colours. Dr Spiegel said: 'Believing was seeing. The patients were not simply telling us what we wanted to hear.'Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-100985/Hypnosis-just-stage-trick.html#ixzz2UuKGvydDFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Contact Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic for help if you live in Birmingham or the West Midlands.